Hypatia
of Alexandria was an eminent scientist in Roman Alexandria at the turn of the
4th century AD. This accolade was accorded to her by contemporaries; remarkable
for any scientist, it was exceptional for a woman. As a teacher, she drew
pupils from across the empire to her lessons.
The date
of birth for Hypatia is not known. Historians place it anywhere between 350 and 370 AD;
currently most historians are agreed on 355 as the most probable date. As with everything in history, that may change without further notice. Hypatia
was the daughter of Theon of Alexandria, a mathematician and philosopher who
was head of the Museion School founded by Pharaoh Ptolemy I.
Theon was a philosopher of the school of
Plato and Plotinus believing that women had a brain and a mind. This in stark opposition to
the teachings of Aristotle and the Christians. The Christian superstition of women without brains is still rampant today, just look at any Conservative Christian political party in the world.
Theon instructed his daughter in mathematics and philosophy and sent her to Athens to
study with other eminent scientists of the time. She returned from her studies
with an impressive array of knowledge in philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. Returning from Athens, she started
working and researching with her father.
A result of this collaboration was a commentary on Euclid’s Elements. This commentary is
the most complete edition of Euclid’s writing to this day and it contains his
statement of the principle of hypothesis, theory, and definition. Further
commentaries include the Arithmetica of Diophantus and the Conica of
Apollonius. She edited the Almagest of Ptolemy which was later commented on by
Theon.
She was
credited with the invention of the hydrometer (a device used to determine the
relative density and gravity of liquids). In a contemporary letter, Bishop
Synesius of Cyrene defended her as the inventor of the astrolabe. Given that
astrolabes had been in use at the time for a hundred years, this seems like
arrant nonsense. But I suppose the bishop was not writing for history, he was
writing to a contemporary. What he probably meant was not the astrolabe but
‘The Astrolabe’, i.e. the one that everybody was using because it was so much
better than the old ones. (I have nothing to prove it except that I don’t write
letters for history either and would expect my recipient to know what I was
talking about when I say Kindle.)
She was
called to a teaching position by her father where she read philosophy. To
understand this correctly, philosophy at the time included mathematics,
mechanics, and astronomy. Her pupils included the later bishop of Cyrene,
Synesius, as well as the later prefect of Alexandria, Orestes.
Hypatia
belonged to the 'aristocracy', the elect few who could afford to learn reading
and writing and indulge in science and research. As a member of this preferred
class of people, it was no wonder she hobnobbed with the political and social
elite of Alexandria. It was also no wonder that she got involved in the ongoing
power struggle between church and state. While Emperor Constantine may have
been enthralled by the Christian ideal of 'one god in heaven and me on earth',
the same idea was percolating in the 'saintly' heads of Christian bishops (and 'me' is so conveniently applied to one self).
Hypatia
was publicly murdered in 415 AD by a most Christian lynch mob. The contemporary
historian Socrates Scholasticus used no uncertain terms in condemning the
murder even while compiling a work of church history. Modern historians dither
in accusing Bishop 'Saint' Cyril of Alexandria with the murder. Church
historians refute any idea in that direction; atheists cite any kind of slander
they might find against Cyril. I give the word to the attorney of the defense, Bishop
John of Nikiu who wrote in the 7th century: '[After Hypatia's death] all the
people surrounded the patriarch Cyril and named him 'the new Theophilus'; for
he had destroyed the last remains of idolatry in the city.' With such a
defense, who needs an accuser?
Further reading
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